Tuesday Intros -- The Wood Witch

Every Tuesday, Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea posts the first paragraph of her current read. Anyone can join in. Go to Diane's website for the image and share the first paragraph of the current book you are reading.

I don't usually read fantasy, but this novella, The Wood Witch by Pepper Sparks, is set in the area
 where I went hiking last week, so I'm going to give it a try.
Here's the intro:

On a humid summer day in the Appalachian Mountains, Sadie Brown sat in a red booth at Finnegan's Diner with her son, Nicholas, sipping coffee and eating a piece of tart rhubarb pie. She watched the dark shadows boil in Red-Hawk pass, a growing plume threatening to consume the hollers and rifts around them. Sadie, a long-time resident of Richmond County, was the only person to see the rolling mass advancing upon Summerset, and a burnt odor permeated the sleepy town along a lonely mountain road name Black Lick.

I found this on Amazon for $2.99. I'm looking forward to reading it.

Dreaming of France -- Paris Runaway Cover Reveal

Thank you for joining this weekly meme. Grab a copy of the photo above and link back to An Accidental Blog. Share with the rest of us your passion for France. Did you read a good book set in France? See a movie? Take a photo in France? Have an adventure? Eat a fabulous meal or even just a pastry? Or if you're in France now, go ahead and lord it over the rest of us. We can take it.

Since I love France so much, I find myself setting my novels there. At the end of June, my fourth novel will be available in ebook and in paperback -- on Amazon, but other places as well.
As I inch toward publication date, I'm excited to share the cover for my novel.

This photograph was taken by Virginia Kelser Jones who shares her France photography on her blog Paris Through My Lens. 

Her pictures are so inspiring and I'm fortunate that she agreed to share this beautiful one with me. 

Here's the blurb from the back cover of the book:

When divorced mom Sadie Ford realizes her 17-year-old daughter Scarlett has run away to Paris all she can imagine are terrorist bombings and sex slaves. After learning her daughter chased a French exchange student home, Sadie hops on the next plane in pursuit. She joins forces with the boy’s father, Auguste, and the two attempt to find the missing teens. The chase takes Sadie and Auguste to the seedier side of Marseille, where their own connection is ignited. Since the divorce, Sadie has devoted herself to raising kids and putting her dreams on hold, but when her daughter needs her most, Sadie finds that concrete barrier to life beginning to crack. In her journey, she learns the difference between watching the hours pass and living.

I'm so happy to share the cover for my new novel with all of you. I hope you love the cover as much as I do.

Thanks so much for playing along with Dreaming of France. I really appreciate your participation and I hope you'll leave a comment plus visit each other's blogs.

Sunshine and Photography

On my recent writers' retreat, I was lucky enough to go walking with a friend who is an artist.
She noted how I was attracted to sunburst pictures.

And it's true. I'm frequently taking pictures with the sun shining through the trees or over the horizon.

I love the lines of light that peek through the forest. 

The lines of the fallen tree in this one caught my eye. 

More sunburst in the woods -- different day. 

My artist friend explained that what I  needed to do was take pictures of the sun shining on objects instead.

And she took a picture of me with the sun illuminating my face. 

So as I walked alone in the woods a few days later (see my previous  post) when I was sure that a bear wouldn't chase me down, I took some selfies of the sun lighting my face.

Here's my first selfie attempt. 

I like this one much better with the way the light shines on my eyes.

I'll continue to experiment with light and photography and hope that my pictures get better as I prepare for my move to France.

Adventures in the Woods

I'm on a writers' retreat, which at this point should simply be called a retreat since I haven't gotten any writing done.

A friend from my writers' group rented a cabin in the Hocking Hills, the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains here in southern Ohio. 

Yesterday, a friend and I walked a little over a mile to a nature sanctuary and explored a trail there. We saw no other people as we wound down into the woods and ended at a Great Wall of mossy stone and a quiet green reflecting pool with water pouring into it from the cliffs above. 

Today, that friend has gone home, so alone, I decided to run to the trail and explore the path we didn't take. As I got to the sanctuary, just past the parking area and a wide swath of flat grass, a young deer startled and raced away through the woods. Did I scare her, I wondered. 

I kept going, surrounded by the hum of cicadas waking up, and turned down the path to the Rock Stalls. 

I'd only gone a little way when I heard a sound like a horse snorting out. Three times that huffing sound came from some place close. 

I froze and realized I was a mile and a half from our cabin and utterly alone in the woods. 

When I heard the sound, I'd imagined a stag pawing the ground, and wondered if he'd run at me. 

I called my husband. 

I told him the situation and he said, "It could be a bear." 

Gulp. I hadn't thought about a bear. 

"Some people say you should try to look big if a bear comes at you, but I don't think that would work for you." Really? Short jokes-- now?

He suggested I turn around but I really wanted to be brave and hike the trail alone. 

"It could be a person paralleling you in the woods," he suggested. 

"There are definitely no people around," I assured him. At 7:30 in the morning on an isolated trail, animals were my bigger worry. 

"How dense are the woods? Can you see into them?" he asked. But I had stopped by some thick bushes. 

"I'm going to keep hiking," I told him. 

So I continued down the path. The woods thinned out, but after a few minutes, I heard the snorting noise again. Three times. An asthmatic bear? 

I stood on the trail, the dappled sunshine struck me, and I began to sing: "My life has been a tapestry of rich and royal hue 

An endless changing vision of an ever changing view"

The song helped me be brave and I continued. 

The woods thinned out even more and I felt comfortable taking a few selfies. 

But I figure I could be one of those people who later inspects pictures and sees a bear or bobcat hanging out in the trees above me. 

The path intersected with the one we'd taken the day before and I felt more comfortable as I revisited the ancient spaces there. 

I made it back home after a 4 1/2 mile hike, which kind of ruins the end of the story, but if I'd been attacked by a bear, I wouldn't be writing this anyway. 

Dreaming of France -- Perfect Beach Day

Thank you for joining this weekly meme. Grab a copy of the photo above and link back to An Accidental Blog. Share with the rest of us your passion for France. Did you read a good book set in France? See a movie? Take a photo in France? Have an adventure? Eat a fabulous meal or even just a pastry? Or if you're in France now, go ahead and lord it over the rest of us. We can take it.

Today in Ohio, the weather is nearly perfect. Sunny, 77 degrees (that's 25 Celcius) with a lovely breeze. It would be a perfect day to spend on the beach.
It reminded me of another lovely day on the beach in 2006, when we visited Bandol along the Mediterranean.

First let me set the scene. You can see the beautiful villas and hotels across the bay.

Our kids were still young enough to enjoy digging in the sand and running along the beach. 

Look at that intensity.

 But mostly, look at the joy of running and kicking up their heels.
I hope you find joy this weekend, whether it is on a beach in France, or wherever you are.
And my thoughts are with the people in France and in Houston who have suffered rising flood waters.

 Thanks so much for playing along with Dreaming of France. I really appreciate your participation and I hope you'll leave a comment plus visit each other's blogs.

I'm also joining a link for All About France. All of you France lovers have another place to visit now with this once a month meme.

Happenings

How can life always be hectic?
It isn't always. My morning runs are very slow, so I guess that's the time that I get to pace myself.
On Tuesday, as I ran down the street early, a mother raccoon and four baby raccoons crossed the street in front of me and disappeared down the storm sewer.
Of course, by the time I got  my phone out, they had already disappeared, but one little guy stuck his head back out.

My parents visited from Florida this week. Spending time with them is usually laid back. Mom and I made strawberry jam one afternoon.  Dad watched lots of sports on TV and we attended the Memorial Day parade.
We took some family photos.

We visited with my brother and his wife. Grace is holding their dog, Jasper. 

And I found time to go out for a drink with my hardworking newsman after he spent a long day covering a trial.

Hope everyone else has a hectic, happening life with lots of joy.

Dreaming of France -- First Time

Thank you for joining this weekly meme. Grab a copy of the photo above and link back to An Accidental Blog. Share with the rest of us your passion for France. Did you read a good book set in France? See a movie? Take a photo in France? Have an adventure? Eat a fabulous meal or even just a pastry? Or if you're in France now, go ahead and lord it over the rest of us. We can take it.

Although I can't always be in France, it's a joy for me when someone I love discovers France.
My niece Caroline just finished her sophomore year in college. She took an internship in Germany this summer and has been there for nearly a month. She'd never traveled overseas before and this weekend she visited Paris.

I've never visited the catacombs, but that is exactly where Caroline headed. She's studying forensics in college, so it makes sense that she would want to see all the bones. 

She sent her mother a detailed itinerary of all the things they had seen and visited in Paris, but I didn't need to know the details, I only needed to see the expression on her face to know that she'd fallen in love.
Here's her departing picture from on top of the Arc de Triomphe.

And she wrote, "Merci, Paris, merci." 

I think she'll be back. 

Thanks so much for playing along with Dreaming of France. I really appreciate your participation and I hope you'll leave a comment plus visit each other's blogs.

Tuesday Intros -- The Little French Guesthouse

Every Tuesday, Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea posts the first paragraph of her current read. Anyone can join in. Go to Diane's website for the image and share the first paragraph of the current book you are reading.
I'm reading a book on my Kindle that is very enjoyable. It's called The Little French Guesthouse by Helen Pollard. If I had to guess, I'd suppose that I found this book based on a post by French Village Diaries. Jacqui always stays up-to-date on the latest books set in France.
Emmy and her live-in boyfriend Nathan travel from London to rural France for a holiday at a B&B. As the book opens, Emmy runs to find the wife of the B&B couple because her husband is having a heart attack. What she finds is her boyfriend having sex with the wife.
The holiday obviously falls apart from there. The book has a lighthearted, chicklit tone as she deals with the end of her relationship and starts helping out at the B&B, immersing her in French life.
Here's the intro:

I wish I could tell you that it happened like it does in the movies. You know the kind of thing. The heroine standing proud, oozing restrained fury. The audience's satisfaction as she delivers a reverberating slap across her lover's face. Her dramatic but dignified exit from the screen.
Believe me, there was nothing dignified about it. All I did was stand there shaking, rage and adrenaline coursing through my body like rabid greyhounds, my mouth flapping open and shut as I tried to find the words. Any words. Even a simple sound of outrage would have sufficed, but all I managed was a pathetic squeak. 

I'll look forward to seeing what everyone else is reading.

Dreaming of France -- Goodies

Thank you for joining this weekly meme. Grab a copy of the photo above and link back to An Accidental Blog. Share with the rest of us your passion for France. Did you read a good book set in France? See a movie? Take a photo in France? Have an adventure? Eat a fabulous meal or even just a pastry? Or if you're in France now, go ahead and lord it over the rest of us. We can take it.

As I looked through some pictures we took in France, I came upon this one.

Most people would not have taken a picture of the KitKat bar, but my husband and I did, because it reminded us of a fond memory when we visited France in 1998 with the children, ages 6, 4 and 2. 

We had been traveling around France for a few weeks, along the Atlantic coast, to the Mediterranean and to the Alps. We even ventured over to Salzburg, Austria before returning to EuroDisney. That's what they called it then before it became Disneyland Paris. 

Finally, we arrived in Paris on a Sunday morning. Luckily, traffic isn't especially bad on Sunday mornings, so we dropped the car at the rental place with only a few wrong turns. We found ourselves a few blocks past the Arc de Triomphe. And the first thing we spotted was a bakery. So I took the kids inside and let them choose a pastry. 

Tucker chose a pain sucre, a sweet roll with large pieces of sugar on top. Grace got a caramel eclair, long and slender with a stretch of caramel along the top and delicate cream inside. 

As for Spencer, he stood looking in all the glass cases before he chose a KitKat bar. Yes, exactly like he could have gotten at home. 

Here they are a few minutes later posing with their father in front of the Arc de Triomphe. Notice that Grace and Tucker are still holding their pastries. Spencer's KitKat bar was long since eaten.

Now at 22, Spencer assures me he would not pick a KitKat bar again. He has worked in some pretty fancy restaurants, and I think he's more aware of what good food is. 

Thanks so much for playing along with Dreaming of France. I really appreciate your participation and I hope you'll leave a comment plus visit each other's blogs.

FranceBookTour -- I Promise You This

Like me, Patricia Sands is a woman who loves France, and her books always take me there. Her latest book is the third in a series about a Canadian woman who visits France after her divorce and her mother's death. Kat falls in love with France, and a Frenchman, and ends up moving there.
This novel begins with Kat hurrying back to Toronto after a friend is hurt in an accident and while there, she has doubts about leaving her old life behind. In the second half of the book, she returns to France and we get to revel in the beauty of the scenery, the food and the lifestyle in Antibes, France.
I enjoyed this novel because it felt like visiting old friends and getting caught up in the bliss and culture that makes living in France so enjoyable. The food, the markets, the friends. Sands writes about all of them in great detail, transporting readers to the South of France. Her characters are realistic and feel like people I would like to share a meal with, luckily, since I do get to join them for some fabulous meals.
I would recommend reading the previous two books before this one. I read the first one, but it had been years, and I had no idea who Molly, the injured friend, was until I got 10% into the book. A stronger conflict would have improved the novel for me too.

on Tour May 17-26 with

I Promise You This

(women’s fiction) Release date: May 17, 2016 at Lake Union Publishing ISBN: 978-1503935723 365 pages Author’s page | Goodreads  

SYNOPSIS

Suddenly single after twenty-two years of marriage, the calm of Katherine Price’s midlife has turned upside down. Seeking to find her true self, she took a chance on starting over. A year later, she is certain of this: she’s in love with Philippe and adores his idyllic French homeland, where he wants her to live with him. But all that feels like a fantasy far removed from Toronto, where she’s helping her friend Molly, hospitalized after a life-threatening accident. Staying in her childhood home full of memories, Katherine wonders: Is she really ready to leave everything behind for an unknown life abroad? And if all her happiness lies with Philippe, will it last? Can she trust in love again? Searching her heart, Katherine finds the pull of the familiar is stronger than she thought. An unexpected meeting with her ex, the first time since his cruel departure, and a stunning declaration of love from an old flame spur her introspection. With sunlit backdrops and plot twists as breathtaking as the beaches of Côte d’Azur, author Patricia Sands brings her trilogy about second chances to a provocative and satisfying close that proves that a new life just might be possible—if you’re willing to let your heart lead you home.

BOOK TRAILER [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYnCA72Iz8U]

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

A confessed travel-addict, best-selling author Patricia Sands lives in Toronto, Canada, when she isn’t somewhere else, and calls the south of France her second home. I Promise You This, is Book 3 in her award-winning Love in Provence series. Find Patricia on Facebook, on Twitter on Instagram at her Amazon Author Page or her website Subscribe to her mailing list and get information about new releases. Buy the book : Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.ca | Amazon.fr | available on Barnes & Noble on May 17

***

You can enter the global giveaway here or on any other book blogs participating in this tour. Be sure to follow each participant on Twitter/Facebook, they are listed in the entry form below.

Enter here

Visit each blogger on the tour: tweeting about the giveaway everyday of the Tour will give you 5 extra entries each time! [just follow the directions on the entry-form] Global giveaway open internationally: 10 participants will each win a copy of this book, print or digital

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CLICK ON THE BANNER TO READ REVIEWS AND EXCERPTS

Entry-Form

The Final Year

One year from tomorrow, my husband and I will have packed up and sold our house. We will have limited our lives to four large suitcases, and we will be leaving to live in France.
One year!
I can't write this post tomorrow because I committed to a post for FranceBookTours, so instead I'm writing it today.
Why did we choose May 20? It's the week after Mother's Day. It's the end of the semester for school, and at least two of our children will be graduated from college.

Whoever took our picture, cut off the top of the Eiffel Tower!

I'm so fortunate that my husband bought into my France dream.

I've dragged him to France numerous times, and he even went once without me when depositing Grace in France. (She hates to fly.)

This was our first trip to France together. I think my husband
has a shirt tied around his waist, rather than really high pants.

We plan to spend a few days in Paris before we take a train to the South of France. We'll rent a house for three or four months while we determine which village we want to live in.

Here we are on a windy day in front of Versailles. 

I picture us riding our bicycles or the taking the train or a rental car to various villages on market day to get a feel for each one. When we figure out where we want to move, we'll start looking for a house.

Here we are on our bike trip in front of the Pont du Gard. 

By September, I hope we'll be in a French home of our own.

This was us in a Moroccan restaurant. The building is ancient. 

And, of course, I plan to take all of you along with us, and to share the ups and the downs of moving to a new country.

Tuesday Intros -- The Arrangement

Every Tuesday, Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea posts the first paragraph of her current read. Anyone can join in. Go to Diane's website for the image and share the first paragraph of the current book you are reading.
I found this book, The Arrangement by Ashley Warlick, at the library, and it looks like fun. Here's the intro.

She'd made it sound as though her husband would be joining them for dinner. She'd made it sound that way on purpose, and then she arrived alone, lifting her shoulders in a vague wifely gesture of disappointment, and maybe the gave the impression of upset. She'd thought about this moment since she learned Gigi would be out of town. She wanted Tim's attentions to herself for the evening, and she'd planned accordingly.
"I reminded Al a week ago," she said, "and then again this morning. I don't know what he's thinking half the time."
Tim leaned to kiss her cheek wrapped in his smoke, his trim dark suit, his sense of ease. His hair had always been white. "Well," he said. "Perhaps he'll join us later?"

Oh, my. Sounds a little dicey.
I'll look forward to seeing what you all are reading.

Dreaming of France -- Book Set in Paris

Thank you for joining this weekly meme. Grab a copy of the photo above and link back to An Accidental Blog. Share with the rest of us your passion for France. Did you read a good book set in France? See a movie? Take a photo in France? Have an adventure? Eat a fabulous meal or even just a pastry? Or if you're in France now, go ahead and lord it over the rest of us. We can take it.

One of the reasons I started writing books set in France was because I couldn't find many books that I enjoyed. If Nicolas Barreau had been writing, I might have skipped it all together. Last week, I picked up his novel Paris is Always a Good Idea, and I read most of it that afternoon. I finished it the next

morning before I went on a run.
Many times, I hesitate to read novels written by French authors. They rarely have happy endings and frequently they are about metaphysical ideas that go over my head, or maybe they're simply lost in translation.
This book felt magical right from the beginning, in the same way that Chocolat felt otherworldly.  It focuses on Rosalie Laurent, who runs a postcard store in St. Germain, Paris. In her early 30s, she's an artist and sells her wishing cards as well as launching one from the Eiffel Tower each year on her birthday. She has a struggling business, a nice enough boyfriend who doesn't share her interests and a meddling mother who hoped for more. Her luck changes when a publisher asks her to illustrate a children's book by a famous children's author. American Robert Sherman enters the picture when he is passing her shop and he sees her book in the store window, a story that he has known since he was five years old. He accuses the children's author of plagiarism and the love/hate relationship begins.  Robert has a law degree, but is considering an offer to teach literature at the Sorbonne in Paris. His girlfriend Rachel is furious that he isn't more ambitious.
Both Robert and Rosalie have settled for a mediocre life until they find each other and a few other surprises.
What did I dislike about the book, the title, which is a quote credited to Audrey Hepburn. I wonder if it was called something else in French.
Maybe this book just called out to something in my life right now, but I was transported to Paris and entertained on the entire journey.

Thanks so much for playing along with Dreaming of France. I really appreciate your participation and I hope you'll leave a comment plus visit each other's blogs.

Saturday Snapshot -- Life

Oftentimes when I'm avoiding my blog, it's because I don't want to deal with my emotions. I'm  not pouring them out to readers because I don't actually want to face them.
Instead, I try to find joy where I can.
So I'll join West Metro Mommy for this weekly meme of photos people have taken and share on their blogs.

I took an afternoon to read a book on my front porch during a sunny day this week. And the cats decided to join me.

I love that Tybs was peeking around the flower. Life can seem idyllic, if you're a cat.

I'll be reviewing the book that swept me away for Dreaming of France on Monday, so I hope you'll check back then.

And here's a photo of my son on his way to a job interview, looking handsome in his new suit.

It's raining here today, so it looks like an inside day for me. I've already run five miles in the rain. I plan to make a pineapple upside down cake, take a warm shower and finish grading for the end of the semester. Maybe I'll even do some writing. Have a good weekend.

Tuesday Intros -- I Promise You This

Every Tuesday, Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea posts the first paragraph of her current read. Anyone can join in. Go to Diane's website for the image and share the first paragraph of the current book you are reading.

I'm reading a book set in France for FranceBookTours. I'll be reviewing I Promise You This by Patricia Sands on May 20, and  there will be a book giveaway, so I hope you'll come back for that.
Here's the intro:

Rain pelted down.
The limo crawled along in a clog of traffic. For the most part, the rhythmic slap of the windshield wipers was all that broke the silence.
Philippe knew that Kat was struggling to keep her composure. He kept the conversation light and brief as they looked out from the backseat. "Now you see why I never take a taxi into Paris from the airport. At least with a hired car and driver, I don't have to watch the meter skyrocket if we get caught like this."
Kat nodded expressionless, staring straight ahead. She thought it fitting that the weather was as gloomy and dark as the feelings she was fighting.
When the familiar landmarks of the Left Bank came into view, her mood began to lift. She leaned her head back against the seat. Her hand nestled in Philippe's. 

I had to keep the intro going until we got to a definitely French part -- the Left Bank.
I look forward to seeing what everyone else is reading.